Spurs about to get busy

Nobody said shoehorning 66 NBA games into four months was going to be easy. Staff writer Jeff McDonald takes a look at the quirks, challenges and potential landmines in the Spurs’ lockout-shortened slate:

We meet again

The Spurs open the 2011-12 season against the team that unceremoniously ended their 2010-11 campaign. Memphis, which upset the top-seeded Spurs in six games in the first round of last season’s playoffs, tips off the new season Dec. 26 at the AT&T Center. It will feel a lot like Game 7, except without all the pesky win-or-go-home drama.

The NBA shows a sense of humor? Zach Randolph and the Memphis Grizzlies open the season Dec. 26 in San Antonio after avoiding such a trip by winning Game 6 in April. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Every night is game night

Well, almost. The Spurs face 17 sets of back-to-backs and two sets of back-to-back-to-backs sprinkled throughout the schedule. By far the most grueling stretch begins March 23 at home against Dallas, after which the Spurs travel to New Orleans the next night, then face Philadelphia at home the night after that. After one off day — spent traveling — the Spurs face a back-to-back at Phoenix and Sacramento.

For those counting, that’s five games in six nights with four travel days thrown in. Expect half the Austin Toros to be called up for that stretch.

No LeBron on the River Walk

The unbalanced schedule means six Eastern Conference teams won’t be making the trip to the AT&T Center this season. The Miami Heat are one of them, so Spurs fans wanting to see LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will have to travel to South Beach for the teams’ only meeting Jan. 17.

Boston is another marquee team that will avoid the Alamo City this year. For Eastern Conference star power at the AT&T Center, check out Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire and the New York Knicks (March 7) and reigning MVP Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls (Feb. 29).

Spurs fans wishing to see Dwyane Wade (left) and LeBron James at the AT&T Center will have to hope for a Heat-Spurs NBA Finals. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Waiting on Kobe

The Spurs don’t face the rival Los Angeles Lakers until April 11, but then kick off what will feel like a mini-playoff series against Kobe Bryant’s bunch, facing them three times in nine days. Two of those games (April 11 and 20) are at the AT&T Center. In a similar scheduling quirk, the Spurs face Houston four times in the first 23 games of the season, plus two more times in the preseason. By then, Gregg Popovich will have surely seen enough of Luis Scola to last the rest of the season.

Rodeo road trippin’

This year’s version of the Spurs’ annual escape from the mutton bustin’ going on at the AT&T Center features nine games in 17 days from Feb. 6-23. The eastward leg takes the Spurs from Memphis to Philadelphia, New Jersey, Detroit, and Toronto. The west leg begins in Los Angeles for a game against the Clippers, then makes stops in Utah, Portland and Denver.

Odds and ends

The Dallas Mavericks make their first visit to the AT&T Center as NBA champions on Jan. 5. … The Spurs face Dallas, New Orleans, Houston, Memphis, Utah and Phoenix four times each. They face all the other teams three times or fewer. … Philadelphia, Cleveland and Orlando are the only Eastern Conference teams the Spurs face twice.